For These Empty Tears
by psychic.refugee99
Summary: Jack Skellington was obsessed with having the perfect Christmas, no matter the cost. When the trick-o-treaters fail in their task to "escort" Sandy Claws to Halloween Town, he feels he needs someone (or some-three) who are rotten to the core in order to accomplish his mission.


I was feeling Halloween-y…or early Christmas-y? Depends on if you think NBXMas is a Halloween or Christmas movie. Either way, I wanted the Core Four to play around in Christmas, Easter, and Halloween Town. Like with everything I write, there's a good chance any incontinuity is on purpose. It may not be, feel free to ask.

I would say this is "Rise of the Guardians-ish" because I don't know if I'm going to use enough of its mythos and characters' characteristics to really count it as part of the fandom. I'm a firm believer that once you get far enough away from the core foundations of the fandom, it stops being derivative and it's essentially something completely different. At most I'd call it "inspired" by said fandom. And some fandoms don't mesh well enough for a full believable crossover. So if I have to choose which fandom to inspire the world I want, I'm choosing NBXmas. I don't want RotG fans to come to this fic thinking that's what they're getting and being horribly disappointed.

I make no le fric and all other useless disclaimers about how I don't own Descendant's, Nightmare Before Christmas, or Rise of the Guardians as Disney, Touchestone Pictures, and Dreamworks have better things to do than sue a broke student which they would probably lose anyway due to Fair Use, 17 U.S.C. § 107. Also, if anyone asks this work is a nonprofit educational tool. ;-D

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Mal stuck to the back of the auditorium, wondering why the Pumpkin King asked for her, Jay, and Evie specifically to come to him after his announcement that Christmas would be theirs. She wasn't sure where her cohorts were at the moment but they were always messing about. It was in their nature, punctuality never made it into their vocabulary. However, given the circumstances, Mal was certain they would make an exception.

No one disrespected Jack Skellington.

Mal occupied herself by monster watching.

The auditorium was packed, it was a rare event; particularly after Halloween. What could the Pumpkin King want with his subjects? Normally they would take the next few months to relax, some went to Earth to roam about. She had looked forward to travelling with Jay and Evie, feeding and causing mischief.

For some, it was always Halloween.

Thankfully both Jay and Evie came strolling in as their appointment came closer. It looked like the King was handing out specific jobs to the townspeople. It ranged from making toys to creating flying beasts to pull a sled.

She even saw her uncles, the quartet of vampires each holding matching umbrellas, as she was, to keep the poisonous sun off their skin. It seemed they were being tasked with improving upon a design for a child's toy.

She hoped she wouldn't be asked to do the same, thinking it was a waste of her time and talents. Perhaps all Jack wanted was Evie, her friend had a talent for sewing; toy making probably wasn't all that far off; he only invited Jay and herself because they generally came as a set.

She recalled the town meeting they had when Jack had come back from being missing.

 _Their exalted leader came strolling out of a side door, the king so tall he had to duck from under the frame. His loyal subjects clapped as he came to the podium._

 _They were all excited to know what he had been up to, and the loot he came with when he drove back into town._

" _Listen everyone, I have to tell you about The North Pole."_

 _Everyone leaned forward, eager to hear the story Jack weaved about a dream like world where everything was lit with a rainbow of color, glittered, and filled him up with joy. The crowed 'ooo'ed and 'awwww'ed at appropriate moments but their curiosity was truly piqued when he opened the curtain to review a brightly lit ornamented tree. Something none of them had ever seen. They cooed in wonder at the odd objects: presents, stockings, Christmas trees. The Halloween citizens tried to make sense of the objects, each guessing what each did or could be hidden inside._

 _The Mayor was quick to enthusiastically support their king, saying that,_

" _What a splendid idea, this Christmas sounds fun. I fully endorse it,_ _ **lets try it at once**_ _!"_

" _Everyone, please, now not so fast. There's something here that you don't quite grasp."_

 _The audience mumbled, wondering what else Jack could reveal to them. It was then that he described the monolith ruler of Christmas land._

 _A fearsome king with a deep mighty voice, something to be behold; monstrous, huge and red. A vulture who flew through the night, under full moonlight._

" _And they call him_ _ **Sandy Claws**_ _."_

She remembered being filled with a exciting dread, that there was another nightmare king who preferred bright lights and glittering white stuff she wasn't sure what it was that filled his land.

It sounded cold, beautiful, and desolate.

Another king who may let them play in the human world to create mischief.

The three made their way to the platform where their king delegated responsibility. To the side, she saw Uma and her gang, glaring at them.

 _What's her problem?_

It seemed the sea witch was not there of her own volition. Mal wondered what she did to be summoned.

Mal was not patient and threw a rock she found at the Mayor to get his attention so he could announce them to the king. Jay and Evie followed suit, throwing whatever garbage they could find. Evie used her powers, a flick of her wrist and the Mayor went stumbling off his podium.

The hapless Mayor sputtered and angrily looked around to see who would dare treat him with such disrespect, his less than jovial face on display. Jay's eyes turn blood red, bared his teeth, let his hair grow wild before growling his displeasure that the Mayor thought he could admonish them.

When the Mayor realized who was before him, he trembled in fear.

"What are **you** doing here?" he asked worriedly, knowing nothing good could come from the three being there.

"Jack sent for us," Jay said with glee, knowing the Mayor had no choice but to tolerate them; his were face melting back into his human one.

"Specifically," Evie chimed in, blue light glowing from her hands.

"By name," Mal finished, razor sharp fangs glittering in the light.

"Jay."

"Evie."

"Mal,"

They all giggled mockingly, as if the entirety of Halloween Town didn't know and shudder at who they were.

"Jack," the Mayor frightfully got the King's attention. "Jack…it's Maleficent's Acolytes."

"Ohhh," the king acknowledged them with respect. "Halloween's finest mischief makers."

The three preened at the title, knowing no one came close. From Mal's peripheral, she saw Uma and her crew flinch, knowing they coveted the position.

"The job I have for the three of you is top secret," he told them as he turned around and walked behind the curtain on the stage. They assumed to follow their king and Jack snapped his fingers angrily at Uma and her two lackeys, Harry and Gil. They each jumped about an inch, startled and obediently followed as well.

Behind the stage, bound and gagged sat a being that looked to be their physical age. The residents of Halloween Town were immortal, so there was no way to truly tell.

When Mal, Jay, and Evie manifested in King Jack's court, they each looked to be around eighteen and no memory of a childhood or any time before. No idea if they ever had a human life. They just were.

Beautiful and seductive, what humans willed into existence in the nineteenth century; it's what they feared and desired in vampires, witches, and werewolves. The citizens thought they odd with their ordinary mundane looks, but fascinating at the same time. A new type of evil, it was novel. They were what humans believed in and dreaded, and if it's what the new generation wanted then the Halloween citizens would welcome them into their town.

The three had proven to be their best mischief makers, influencing humans to their most wicked inner desires on Halloween night. They were favorites of Jack Skellington, adding to his power and kingdom every year.

The teen was frightened, eyes widened when the trio came towards him. Mal's ethereal green eyes almost glowing when she looked him up and down. She had never seen anyone so…warm and light. His scent hit her immediately, making her mouth water and teeth ache.

The boy seemed just as enthralled with Mal, his fear disappearing and replaced with wonder, he even stopped struggling from his confines. He had never seen anyone as beautiful, their eyes locking. He was different than anything she had ever seen in Halloween Town or earth. Platinum curls with pitch black roots, freckles scattered across his face like stars, dark eyes that held no malice or wickedness.

Eyes that pulled her to him, her feet walking towards him with a mind of their own.

She wanted a taste, her tongue licking her lips and smiling wide; revealing razor sharp fangs.

"Do not, he is not for you," the King warned, breaking Mal out of her haze immediately.

She blinked rapidly, unsure of what just happened and a blush rose to her pale cheeks. Both Evie and Jay looked worried at her, wondering what came over their friend.

"This mission, I want you to go to The North Pole and…escort Sandy Claws here. He will be our special guest while we take over Christmas."

 _A kidnapping, how fun._

Mal thought, the chaos they'd cause when they stole away the leader of Christmas. They'd be notorious throughout Halloween, even more so; especially if Sandy Claws was as dreadful as Jack described.

And they were being allowed to a different realm, in the decades since their creation, they had never been anywhere else other than Halloween Town and the human realm. They each were excited to be part of something so new and daring.

The three smirked, eager to embark on the trouble.

"But I want you to learn from Uma's failures," the king said gravely, his jovial tone gone. "I had first given the responsibility to the trick-or-treaters but they had rushed in, gone to the wrong world, and then kidnapped the wrong person. That is why we have an air sprite in our midst."

 _So that's what he is._

Mal's curiosity piqued, wondering what it was about this so called sprite that she felt such a pull. She wondered what a sprite was at all.

"How exactly do you manage to fuck up a simple kidnapping job **so badly**?" Jay directed at Harry, Uma's second in command. They had a healthy and particularly vicious rivalry. Their gangs had run into each other more than once, always trying to beat the other.

Harry had started to come forward, wanting to start a fight but Uma pulled him back. She knew it was not the time for a fight, they were on thin ice with the Pumpkin King already and they didn't need to make it any worse.

Evie looked at her nails, bored and wondering the same thing Jay did. From what the King had described, how in Samhain did they confuse this innocuous teen with Sandy Claws?

Mal had known Uma, Harry, and Gil for a long time, basically ever since they had emerged from the Ghostly Sea at the edge of Halloween Town not long after she, Jay, and Evie had appeared. So if she had to guess, the Sea Three had made it to whatever world the sprite was from, Uma and Harry had gotten distracted and went off somewhere to fuck, and left Gil to do the grunt work. Why they would allow that pretty idiot to do anything on his own was beyond her. But if they did, they were doomed to failure and got whatever admonishment from the King coming to them.

Gil no doubt captured the first thing he came across, wanting to get the task over with as quickly as possible to join in his crew mates' fun.

"You will show our current guest hospitality, see if he knows anything about Sandy Claws, and then chaperon him home. Uma will tell you which door he came from. But I want you to prepare and treat this job with the gravity it deserves. No going out with no plan or idea what you're doing. Sandy Claws is huge and probably more dangerous than even Oogie Boogie."

Jack wished he had gotten a closer look, but all he was able to see was a gargantuan humanoid in a red suit with white trim. The creature's bellowing laugh shook the very snow covered ground he stood on when he was spying on the residents of The North Pole.

He knew the Mischievous Trio would be able to sneak about no problem, the citizens of the other realm seemed totally oblivious to their surroundings. No one had noticed a seven foot tall walking skeleton in black traipsing about. They didn't notice him eavesdropping, listening to what he could of their Christmas plans and Sandy Claws. They certainly didn't notice him stealing a great bag of presents, stockings, and even a motorized snow mobile. The odd creatures that made up the villagers were all short, had peach coloring, and diminutive pointed ears. They must have had hidden fangs or powers, otherwise Jack couldn't fathom how they'd survive the centuries much less under the rule of such an imposing figure.

Like the three before him, they looked mostly human and weak but underneath they all had such terrifying abilities. The fears humans could come up with, monsters were that much scarier when one didn't know they were monsters until it was too late.

But perhaps it meant that Sandy Claws must be such an awe inspiring and powerful ruler, for his people held no fear of outsiders, so safe their king made them.

"Of course your majesty," Mal accepted the job on behalf of the three of them, reverence in her tone as her head bowed slightly. "I'll come to you later when we need to know which door," she said to Uma, not even giving the girl the curtesy to face her; her shimmering eyes focused on the sprite before her, wondering what he could tell them.

It had enraged the sea witch, Mal's tone suggesting the task was one even **Uma** couldn't fail at it. Knowing she could not gainsay the King's favorite and she was in a precarious situation as it were, she acknowledged Mal's plan with a nod and then walked out, seeing it as a dismissal. Harry and Gil close behind her, but the former had sneered at Jay before going their separate ways.

Gil, as dense as ever, smiled and waved goodbye as if he was leaving a party early.

Jack smiled his skeleton grin, so happy his Christmas plans were back on track. He trusted the three to do as he bid and went back to the stage to delegate more work.

Mal walked slowly to the sprite, mindful of Jack's instructions to be hospitable and in turn assuming he also meant kind. She bent forward, untied the cloth that gagged him looked him straight in the eye,

"So what do they call you?"

He first tried to yawn out the kinks in his jaw, sore from being muzzled but then he was aware of how close the girl with purple hair was to him. He couldn't help but focus on the voluptuous lips that seemed to be in a constant impish grin.

 _What would it be like to kiss her?_

The thought intruded into his mind before he could stop it. He thought time in the disturbing town was making him lose his mind; the fangs on the girl alone should have disabused him of any notion of kissing her.

"Qu'est-ce qu'ils vous appellent?" Mal tried again, thinking perhaps he didn't speak English.

Easter was celebrated in most nations across the world, he was fluent in all of their languages so he finally cleared his head enough to answer her.

"Carlos, my name is Carlos."

"Carlos," she repeated, trying it out and finding she liked the way it rolled off her tongue. "Welcome to Halloween Town."

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Was anyone surprised at Carlos' role? lol Hope everyone liked it!

Thanks for reading and please review.


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